A NOTE FROM JEANNE

Welcome to my website, friends near and far! I’m grateful and excited to share my journey with you—more specifically, the simple, miraculous gift of storytelling onstage, onscreen, and on the page.

There is so much I love about the performing arts. I love how we can expand our our imagination and knowledge through experiencing each other’s stories. I love that in doing so, we can deepen our empathy and connection to ourselves, each other, our world, and our universe—as we learn, love, laugh, cry, grieve, wonder, and celebrate life together.

I love that we can advocate for spiritual growth, social justice, and a better world through what we do. That we have the power to break down walls between people—social, political, and personal—by recognizing and highlighting our common humanity. 

Thank you so much for sharing this journey with me. I hope we get an opportunity to collaborate! 

-Jeanne

Jeanne Sakata is an award-winning actor and playwright whose versatility spans across theater, television, film, voiceover animation, and audiobooks. 

Recent TV recurring and guest star roles include ABC/Shondaland’s Station 19, CBS’ Magnum P.I., NCIS Hawai’i, NCIS Los Angeles, and Disney Plus’ High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, with her voice talents featured in Marvel’s animated series Hit Monkey, Apple TV’s Stillwater, Disney’s Big Hero 6, and Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender, as well as the audiobooks How High We Go In The Dark (2023 Audie Award Finalist for Science Fiction) and Trust.

Onstage, Jeanne recently performed in Anna Deavere Smith’s Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum, as well as the world premiere of Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich’s Here There Are Blueberries at La Jolla Playhouse. Additional stage credits include the Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Kennedy Center, La Jolla Playhouse, Vineyard Theatre, People's Light Theatre, Northlight Theatre, Theatre Works Silicon Valley, Berkeley Rep, ACT San Francisco, ACT Seattle, and Portland Center Stage, to name a few.

Jeanne’s first play, the celebrated solo work Hold These Truths, commissioned by Center Theatre Group, has had over two dozen productions across the country and continues to be produced nationally and internationally.  Winning rave reviews from The New Yorker, The New York Times, and other AP critics, it is the recipient of numerous awards and has received encore or extended runs at Barrington Stage, Arena Stage, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. 

Published by Ageloff Books and available in script or audio play form, Hold These Truths is also on display at the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where the Jeanne Sakata Collection was established in July 2011.  

Jeanne also authored the 2021 L.A. Theatre Works audio play For Us All, and is frequently commissioned for new works. Both Hold These Truths and For Us All are available through Audible and other streaming platforms. She is currently working on two commissions: an audio drama of THE SECRET GARDEN for LATW, and a new play for the 2024 Legacy Commissions at Washington DC’s Ford Theatre.

Among numerous honors, she’s received the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in Chay Yew’s Red, a Trailblazer Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement & Raising the Visibility of the API Community by East West Players, and a Lee Melville Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Los Angeles Theatre Community by Playwrights’ Arena.

 

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Photo by Vince Trupsin

 

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Performing Arts Legacy Project

PAL’s mission is to document and represent the legacies and careers of senior performing artists.
Through writings, photo galleries, videos and interviews, share in the milestones of Jeanne’s four-decade career as acclaimed actor and writer.